


Say It Later, Say It Now

by GalahadWilder



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Crack, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Post Reveal, basically they both know each other's identities but neither is aware the other knows, double sided half reveal, lucky charm zine, one sided identity reveal, post relationship pre reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26981086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/pseuds/GalahadWilder
Summary: Marinette and Adrien are dating and happy. Marinette finds out Adrien is Chat Noir. Adrien finds out Marinette is Ladybug.You'd think this would make things much simpler. You'd be wrong.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 25
Kudos: 503





	Say It Later, Say It Now

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Nomolosk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nomolosk/pseuds/Nomolosk) for help on the summary.

Marinette falls back on her bed with a huff, arms splayed wide, and stares up through her skylight into the cloudless Paris sky. She takes a moment to imagine her comforter is a pink, fluffy cloud, that she’s lying in the sky somewhere drifting on the breeze, that her world hasn’t been turned upside down  _ again _ and that the only thing she has to worry about is the sun on her face and the ground a thousand miles below.

Then she breathes in, remembers how his face looked into that same skylight just two nights before, and the moment is lost.

“He’s Chat Noir,” she murmurs to herself, throwing her arm over her eyes. “My boyfriend is Chat Noir.”

In retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Both boys have the same kind heart, the same terrible sense of humor, the same smile, the same sadness behind their eyes. Despite their superficial differences, deep down they are clearly the same. But if she hadn’t seen him detransform, she never would have guessed that polite, well-behaved Adrien was the same person as her boisterous and jovial partner.

She has no idea what emotion she’s feeling right now—is she happy? Scared? Angry? No way to tell—but it’s definitely  _ intense _ . She feels her nails digging into her palm, her tendons pressing against the skin of her knuckles, and forces herself to take a deep breath, loosen her muscles.

Tikki peers down from her unhappy cookie-munching in her little nook above Marinette’s bed, alcove hidden from anyone entering from both below and above. “Marinette?” she says. “Are you… all right?”

Marinette turns onto her side, curls up into a fetal position, hugging her knees to her chest. “I… Tikki, I—I have no idea,” she murmurs, staring at a thread that’s poking out of her handmade pillowcase. She’s gonna have to fix that soon. “I mean, both guys I’m into being the same guy? And him falling for both of me?” She groans. “I know I’m Ladybug, but that’s  _ stupid _ lucky.” She closes her eyes, chews on her lip. “It’s… too much.”

Marinette feels Tikki light on the pillow in front of her, and opens her eyes to see her Kwami hugging her nose with a bashful grin. “Stupid lucky is what I do,” Tikki says.

Marinette smiles, nuzzling into Tikki’s tummy. “Yeah,” she says. “Yeah it is.”

Tikki’s pats Marinette’s forehead with her paw. “Do you need me to turn off the lights?” she says.

Marinette nods.

There’s a moment of silence as Tikki flits off toward the door, and then the lights click off, bathing Marinette in blessed darkness. Immediately, her senses begin to calm, and her thoughts arrange.

Then she realizes something.

“Oh, no,” she breathes, rolling onto her back. “Tikki?” she says, her voice small.

Tikki flits into view over her, looking down at her with concern. “Marinette?”

Marinette stares up at her Kwami, her heart thrumming with fear. “He doesn’t know I’m Ladybug,” she says.

Tikki shakes her head. “No,” she says. “He doesn’t.”

Marinette winces. “I’m going to have to tell him.”

* * *

“Oh, cats. Oh,  _ cats. _ Oh, CATS,” Adrien says, pacing a trench into the floor of his room. “I’m… I’m dating  _ Ladybug _ .” He grinds the heels of his palms into his eyes. “How did I not see it?”

Plagg snorts into his Camembert. “Took you long enough.”

Adrien drops into his computer chair, presses his hand to his forehead and runs his fingers up and back through his shaggy hair. “ _ Cats, _ ” he hisses. He should’ve seen it. Ladybug and Marinette don’t just have the same fire, the same brilliant mind—every part of them is the same, right down to the way they scrunch their noses when they’re thinking. And yet, if he hadn’t seen her detransform… “What am I—” He chokes. “What am I even supposed to  _ do? _ ”

Plagg smirks without taking his eyes from his cheese. “Come on, Kitten,” he drawls. “You’ve been planning how to date Ladybug as long as I’ve known you. You talked my ear off every night for three years until I convinced you to go for Bakery Girl instead.”

Adrien chokes, wheels around toward his Kwami. “And you  _ knew the whole time! _ ” he yelps, jabbing a finger at the tiny cat. “You  _ knew _ they were the same person!”

Plagg raises an eyebrow, tilting his head contemplatively. “Yes I did,” he says with a sly smile. “Gotta say, watching you moon over her  _ twice _ was better than those KDramas Tikki loves so much.”

Adrien blinks, swiveling in his chair. “Is  _ that _ where you go at night?”

Plagg shrugs. “Some nights, yeah.” He nibbles on his Camembert, before looking up at his wielder. “So,” he says, “how are you planning to tell her?”

Adrien stumbles backward and collapses into his computer chair. “Oh, cats,” he breathes, staring blankly at his computer screen. “I have to tell her.”

* * *

Marinette arrives early for school the next day. She’s rarely awake this early, but knowing what she needed to do had left her too jittery to sleep. She’s too nervous to sit, but too tired to pace, so she stands in place, her bag held over her knees, waiting for her boyfriend to arrive.

“You okay?” Tikki whispers from inside the backpack held between Marinette’s hands.

“Nope!” Marinette whispers back with a grin that she’s fairly certain doesn’t quite reach her eyes. She’s excited—her boyfriend is secretly also the boy she trusts more than anything else in the world. But on the other hand, she’s been hiding a huge part of her life from him for as long as she’s known him, and she has no idea if he’ll ever forgive her.

So she stands, waiting for her soulmate, her other half, the boy she loves, to arrive so she can spill his secret.

She’s so lost in her thoughts that she doesn’t even notice when he does. Adrien folds her into his arms, kissing the top of her head. “Morning—”

She shrieks, leaping backward, almost slamming her skull into his chin.

“—Myyyyy… rinette!” he says.

“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry!” Marinette yelps, trying to turn in his arms to comfort him.

He only laughs, holding her tight against his chest. “It’s fine!” he says brightly, kissing her head again. He presses his cheek to her scalp and nuzzles. “I knew the consequences when I snuck up on you.”

“You do love to do that,” she murmurs fondly. Just another bit of the cat in him that she should’ve seen. Then her eyes widen. “Hey,” Marinette says. “You didn’t call me Princess.”

Adrien’s arms stiffen around her. “Um,” he says, a tremble in his voice.

She bites her lip, forcing down a spike of annoyance at his father—she recognizes Gabriel’s hand in that tremble. She puts her backpack down on the steps and takes his hand. “It’s okay, Adrien” she says, soft. “You’re allowed to give me more than one pet name.”

He breathes out, relieved, all the tension gone from his body, and she realizes—she can’t tell him right now. Maybe later.

Yeah. Later’s good.

* * *

He’d almost called her “My Lady.” Oh,  _ cats _ , that was  _ not _ how he wanted her to find out.

He’s glad she sits behind him, because while he  _ definitely  _ can’t concentrate in class today, if she were in front of him—especially after  _ that— _ he doesn’t think he’d be able to even  _ pretend _ to be paying attention.

She seems clumsier than usual today. A lot of her more extreme pratfalls disappeared by around their third date, once he made it clear that he didn’t mind her word vomit and in fact found it kind of cute. But today, every time she meets his eyes, it seems like she’s halfway to the floor again, and he’s barely on his toes enough to catch her.

He can’t help feeling a little thrill, though, that he’s having this effect on  _ Ladybug. _ One-year-ago-Adrien would be having a heart attack right now. As it is, everything’s a little too soft and warm with her for that.

“Adrien, I’m  _ fine _ ,” his Princess—his  _ Lady— _ protests, burying her face in her hands.

“Not today you’re not,” he say with a smile and the Soft Eyes she loves so much. “Besides, I’m not gonna pass up a chance to be gallant.”

Marinette pouts, gesturing downwards to where his arms are holding her up, supporting both her shoulders and her knees. “Sure, but you don’t think  _ carrying me all the way to the lunchroom _ is a little bit much?”

“Nope!” Adrien says.

He sees Nino and Alya ahead of them, synchronized mock-gagging at them, but he ignores them.

“Ugh, you are the  _ worst _ ,” she says, reaching up to scratch under his chin.

He purrs, smiling—

And then suddenly realizes that she doesn’t know he can do that.

Also,  _ Marinette  _ doesn’t scritch  _ Adrien _ . Ladybug for Chat, sure, but… she doesn’t know it’s him. And she definitely wouldn’t reveal her identity like that if she did.

He swallows, barely taking a moment to realize that Marinette has gone as white as a sheet.

“Mari?” he says. “Are you okay?”

“Fffffine!” she shrieks, leaping out of his arms—or at least  _ trying _ to. He’s supporting her too well, and her flats hook onto his elbow, and he barely has time to brace before they’re both sprawled across each other on the ground.

The entire hall comes to a halt, staring at them, as Marinette’s face gets steadily redder. Adrien realizes—his body weight is pressed on top of her, pinning her down, and she’s regressed today for some reason—she’s about to explode. He reaches out toward her—

“I’m sorry!” she shrieks, clapping her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m—are you—oh gosh I’m so sorry—”

It’s an utterly surreal moment, realizing that this girl, who has pitched him across entire city blocks without batting an eye, is having a panic attack over  _ tripping _ him. It’s all he can do to roll of her, climb to his feet, and hold out a hand.

“It’s okay, Marinette,” he says, smiling gently. “I’m fine. You okay?”

Her pupils slowly begin to contract again as her breathing slows and she takes his hand. “I—I’m okay,” she says.

He pulls her up with a smile. “I love you,” he says. “I have to expect you to…” He waggles his eyebrows. “... _ sweep me off my feet _ every once in a while.”

She giggles, closing her eyes, and he realizes he can’t tell her now. Later, maybe.

Yeah. Later’s good.

* * *

Ladybug arrives for patrol in a bit of a funk. School was excruciating—she hasn’t been that clumsy in front of her boyfriend since the first time they kissed, she spent all day making a fool of herself and she couldn’t once get up the courage to tell him what she knew. She’s almost ashamed to be meeting him now, knowing his secret with him not knowing hers.

But as she lights onto the rooftop, she sees in his hunched posture that he seems not to have had the best day either. Which is… odd. He seemed fine when they left school?

“Everything okay?” she says, padding up behind him and sitting on the roof next to him, kicking her legs out into open air.

He turns to her with wide, sad eyes. “I—um,” he begins. “Girl troubles.”

Ladybug’s heart rate spikes. Girl troubles? He’s Adrien; there’s only one girl in his life. Troubles? Did he—did her clumsiness embarrass him? Did he finally decide she wasn’t good enough?

“Are you breaking up with me?” she whispers, hugging her stomach.

His head snaps around, his eyes wide. “Wait—” he gasps, his face bone-white. “My—Marinette, I’d never—” He bites his lip. “You  _ know _ ?”

Ladybug nods with a whimper. “I—I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Suddenly his palms are on her cheeks, his forehead pressed to hers. “I love you, My Lady, My Princess, My—My  _ Marinette _ ,” he breathes in a rush. He smiles. “I’m here as long as you’ll have me.”

Relief floods her body as she realizes—he’s not leaving her. He’s  _ staying _ . “Your—girl trouble,” she manages. “You found out?”

He closes his eyes and nods. “Saw you yesterday.”

She giggles, tears coming to her eyes. “Same.”

“Cats,” he snorts. “We’re both idiots.”

“Yeah, but you’re  _ my _ idiot,” she says, scratching his scalp, smiling as he begins to purr. “Always and forever.”

“I can live with that,” he whispers, raising her chin and meeting her lips with his.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on Tumblr.](http://www.galahadwilder.tumblr.com)


End file.
